Dead and Alive
by XcityofsmilesX
Summary: Iris Harmon knew she only need one person in her life and that was her twin sister Violet. But when Tate Langdon sets his eyes on the blonde with red highlights...nothing is going to get in his way of getting her. (Set in Season 1: Murder House, Tate/OC)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Nightmares

Everyone's afraid of something. It's just a simple fact. No human being is invincible.

Whether it be rational or irrational…it doesn't matter, everyone has a fear. Iris knew her sister was afraid of being abandoned, Violet knew her sister was claustrophobic. Neither would admit that, of course…it was just something you kept to yourself. If the time came when their fears were being brought to the surface, they only needed the other to calm them down.

For as long as the two of them could remember…it was Iris and Violet. Sure, they had other friends, a few boyfriends but nothing ever got in the way between the two of them.

So when their parents decided to move to LA after their dad's affair, they remained side by side. Revolting in their own special way.

Violet smoked and cut herself, Iris drew her nightmares and hallucinations. They both knew the needed help but neither was going to go to their therapy dad. The same dad who slept with one of his students not long after their mother had a miscarriage.

He'd get them medicated and say sweet things..trying to get his girls back on his side, their mom would throw a fit. They knew how it would go. It was just simpler to remain silent in this whole situation.

So they helped each other. Violet helped Iris get highlights and Iris designed a small tattoo for the both of the. Their namesake flowers intertwined on their wrists. Small and simple. Describing how the two of them would remain together through whatever life threw at them.

They both knew nothing could break them apart…they'd always have each other's back. No nightmare or 'troubled time' was going to stop the Harmon twins.

But a certain blonde-haired psychopath might.

The only question is…which one was going to have their heart smashed and eaten by this killer?

Violet reminded Tate too much of himself…a teenager fighting to fit in with the filthy thing called society. But Iris…Iris was special.

So Iris it was.

And Iris he'd have.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Pilot

"Psychopaths [make] the world go around...society [is] an expression of that particular sort of madness...I've always believed society to be a fundamentally rational thing, but what if it isn't? What if it is built on insanity?"  
>― Jon Ronson, <em>The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry<em>

Iris was thankful her sister let her sit in the back of the car. Not only would sitting up front mean the obvious tension between her parents but she'd eventually have some form of attack.

Oh the perk of being claustrophobic.

"The light is different out here. It's softer." Vivien commented as Iris shaded the appropriate areas of her sketch. Iris was mad at herself, she was tired of hearing all the small talk. Of course, anything to drown it out was buried with her things. Her Ipod and tablet were in a bag in the back, near the front of the trunk. Her dad had taken her satchel from her and threw it in before she even had the chance to argue.

At least Violet was suffering along with her.

"It's called smog." Iris remarked as she closed her sketchbook, the one simply titled 'Faceless Devil'. She'd lost count of how many sketchbooks she had filled up, each with different titles that showed her inner sanity. She never had the heart to throw them away, it would be like losing a limb for Iris.

"You should be excited Vi. You can stop sneaking cigarettes and just start taking deep breaths." The twins ignored him, they didn't need to hear anything their 'therapy' dad had to say.

"I need to go to the bathroom." Violet remarked, finally speaking up.

"We're almost there." Ben assured his daughter.

"I need to go." Violet insisted. Iris knew her sister's plan, get out of the car for maybe five minutes, get away from the awkwardness and smoke. Maybe add a few more scars to her arms.

"Me too." Iris inputted, seeing her sister get fidgety. It'd been too long since Violet last had a smoke and besides, Iris could stretch out her legs.

"Vi, it's a freeway. Really, where do you want me to pull over? Maybe the Honda next to us has a bathroom or something." There he goes again, trying to be the 'I'm not a dickhead' dad. The twins glance at Hayley, who was sitting in what was supposed to be the baby's booster seat.

"Bet if the baby had to shit, you'd find somewhere." Violet remarked, making her sister snort.

"Really?" Vivien glances back at the girls who were sharing a grin, "Violet, I hate that word, unless I'm saying it."

"I'm really glad we named you two Violet and Iris, instead of our second choice." Ben remarked, glancing at the twins in the rearview mirror. The two shared a look.

"Which was?" They simultaneously asked.

"Sunshine and Joy." Vivien answered, and though it isn't all that funny, the four of them still manage to share a chuckle.

"It's funny. Come on, you gotta admit it's funny." Both girls notice their father trying to grab their mother's hand, but they don't say anything about it.

There was enough going on without commenting about it.

**-AHS-**

"I love it," Ben remarked as he rang the doorbell, "Don't you love it, hon? I mean, it looks even better than it did online."

"Yeah, it's interesting." Vivien answered as she glanced around, holding Hayley close to her. Iris opened the trunk and immediately grabbed her bag, hugging it close to her chest and letting out a sigh of relief. Violet looked at her sister with a questioning look.

"They're my cigarettes." Iris explained as she placed the bag on her back and turned to the house. Violet stood next to her sister.

"Great. So we're the Addams family now." Iris shook her head.

"We make the Addams look like the Kardashians." Violet snorted.

"Hey, crabby pants. Come here." The twins looked at one another before grabbing hands and walking up to join their parents on the porch.

"What are you doing?" Vivien asked her husband as the twins walked up. Ben smiled at his girls and put an arm around Iris, who tensed at her father's touch. Her saving grace was the realtor, Marcy, who opened the door and graciously smiled at the Harmon family.

"Welcome," the twins pushed past their parents and Marcy, wanting to see the house and get away from the awkwardness, "It's a classic L.A. Victorian. Built around 1920 by the doctor to the stars at the time," Iris pretended to fan herself, like a silver screen actress, and Violet covered her mouth, snorting into her hand, "It's just fabulous. These are real Tiffany fixtures. As you can see, the previous owners really lobed this place like a child. They restored everything."

"They were gay." Violet whispered to her sister, who sniggered as she ran her hand over the fireplace.

"Gay?" they heard their mother ask.

"What do you think?" Marcy answered, causing the girls to giggle together. The three adults looked at the teens with strange looks, but neither of them answered, just rejoining their parents with the tour of the house.

"Tiffany. Wow." Ben remarked with a nod, as if he knew what he was talking about.

"Do you cook?" Marcy asked as she led the family to the kitchen.

"Viv is a great cook," the twins rolled their eyes, here we go again, "I got her cooking lessons a few years ago, and she ended up teaching the teacher a few things." The girls stood by one another at the end of the counter, simply watching the encounter between the three adults.

"Cooking lessons…romantic. Aren't you a psychologist?" Marcy asked Ben, completely changing the subject at hand.

"Psychiatrist. You said something on the phone about there being a study that I could use as a home office? I'm planning on seeing patients here, so I can spend more time with my family." Violet and Iris shared a glance, like that was actually going to happen.

"How refreshing." See, Marcy didn't care. Vivien put Hayley down, who immediately ran out of the kitchen, yapping at nothing.

"Violet, Iris, would you go see where Hayley went?" The two leave, "Thank you."

"What are you yapping at?" Violet asked the dog as the twins finally reached the door where the dog was yapping at. The two share a look and push Hayley out of the way, opening the door for them to go down. They go down the stairs together, look around before immediately going back up.

"That was some freaky shit." Iris commented as she knelt down and picked Hayley up.

"Yeah, no going down there?" Violet asked her sister.

"Hell no." Iris answered as the two of them went upstairs, following the voices of Marcy and their parents. However, they pause when they hear Marcy talk about the gay couple who owned the house before them. The two of them shared a grin before entering the room.

"Where did it happen?" Violet asked, making their parents look at them, shook written on both of their faces.

"The basement."

"We'll take it." The twins simultaneously answered.

_In the shadows of the room, a blonde haired boy smirked at the scene before him. _

**-AHS-**

The Harmon twins walked arm in arm across the yard of their new high school. Violet lets out a drag, which blows back in her sister's face. Though Iris doesn't flinch or couch, like she used to when Violet first started out, surprisingly she finds the smell comforting. Iris looks around the yard while bobbing her head to Avenged Sevenfold, which was blaring in her ears.

"I hate them already." Iris decided. She couldn't stand people who gave her and her sister nasty looks, they didn't know either of them. Who were they to judge them?! Suddenly, a skankly dressed girl comes up and stops in front of the twins. They pause and Iris removes her ear buds.

"Hey! Student council passed a rule against smoking in public places." The first one remarked as the other two followed and stood behind their 'leader'.

"Secondhand smoke kills." Girl number two remarked, stating the fact that had been spread all over the nation for many years. A simple reminder to get people to stop smoking, yeah right.  
>"We're new, we didn't know." Iris defends her sister and Violet drops her cigarette and crushes it with her shoe.<p>

"What the hell is wrong with you? People sit here, they eat here." The leader all but shrieked, gesturing to the yard around them. The two girls shared a look, seriously, who was this girl?

"You don't know us." Violet began.

"Why are you doing this?" Iris finished with a frown, looking at the three of them.

"Leah's grandmother died of lung cancer. She takes this stuff pretty seriously." Girl number two answered as Leah knelt down and picked the crushed cigarette up and held it in front of Violet.

"Eat it…eat it or I'm gonna kick the shit out of you." The twins remove their arms from one another, looking at Leah with shocked looks upon their faces. Seriously, who the hell was this girl?!

"No. What?"

"Come on, Leah, that's enough." Girl number three, personally Iris's favorite right now, said and tired to pull Leah away from the twins.

"No," she yanked her hand away from her 'friend', "No, no, I want to see her eat it."

"No, that's disgusting." Iris said and tried to pull her sister away from the scene. Violet tried to leave with her sister but this Leah chick wouldn't leave them alone.

"Eat it, eat it." Leah insisted.

"Leah, seriously, she's like 12." But Leah apparently wasn't one to listen to reason because she tried to force the crushed cigarette into Violet's mouth. Iris immediately jumped in and punched Leah in the face, the hand with her skeletal ring…which was most certainly going to leave a nasty bruise. Leah screams and falls to the floor. The twins take that as their chance to leave, which they do.

"You are dead! You are dead!"

**-AHS-**

Iris sat in her room, staring at the blank wall and willing her creative side to come up with something to paint. It wasn't that hard to convince her parents to allow her to paint and decorate her room how she wished. Actually, it didn't seem to be that much of a problem when it came to asking for things. They probably felt bad for her, thinking that she hated what her sister was doing and Iris 'just wanted the family to be back together'.

What a bunch of bullshit.

Iris sighed, rubbing her head in annoyance as she glanced at the sketchbooks she had laid out on her bed. She removed her hat and tossed it to the side, it landed on a box that she had yet to unpack. She picked up the one labeled 'My Sight', it was mostly scenic things. How Iris saw the world. She flipped through, hoping to find something that would inspire her but she dropped the sketchbook when she heard her mom scream. She ran out into the hall, where Violet was, looking around for the source.

"Come on." Iris said and pointed to the staircase that leads to the attic. Iris went up first, seeing her parents together.

"What happened?" And then she saw the rubber suit, which made her eyes go wide.

"Holy shit." Violet commented as she joined the rest of them.

"Let's get rid of it. Come on," she pulls her daughters along to the stairs, "let's go downstairs. Come on. Watch the steps." Once Iris was back in her room, she laid down on her bed and closed her eyes, drifting off into sleep.

That night, Iris had a dream of the rubber suit, although the eyes…the eyes were what made it a nightmare.

**-AHS-**

Iris knew that her father had an appointment with his first patient today. She was kind of tempted to sneak downstairs and listen to their conversation…maybe it would give her some ideas of what to do with the blank wall. She ran her fingers though her hair, the skeletal hand ring taking some loose ones. She was wearing her first day of school outfit again, it wasn't like she was meeting anyone. She'd already decided that she hated the people here and wanted nothing to do with them.

"Music...music will distract me." She decided and got off her bed, stretching out her legs. She kicked her shoes aside as she walked over to her cd collection and looked for something to listen to.

"You got any Kurt Cobain?" Iris jumped at the voice and looked to the door. There, a boy with messy dirty blonde hair, a stripped sweater, jeans with holes, and high tops, stood.

"How'd you get in here?"

"If you wanted some privacy, you might also try locking the door." And with that he pulls the door shut, leaving Iris alone again. She stared at the door, processing what just happened again and again until she slowly went back to trying to decide what to listen to.

**-AHS-**

"Why are you so obsessed with this guy?" Violet whispered as the two of them snuck downstairs, listening in on the conversation between their father and the boy from yesterday.

"I don't know Vi." She answered as they stopped and sat down on the stairs, listening into the conversation.

"I was afraid my big dick wouldn't work." Both girls suddenly became attentive, leaning a bit closer to the cracked open door. From Iris' spot she could see the boy she had met yesterday, though his shirt was different, he was still wearing the same jeans and shoes.

"What?" their father asked and the boy laughed.

"Yeah, that's why I didn't take the meds." He answered.

"Tate." Their father warned and Iris smiled to herself, happy that she finally knew the boy's name.

"I was afraid my dick wouldn't work," Tate looks up and sees Iris with her sister, "Because I met someone." Violet let out a squeak of surprise, causing the two of them to immediately jump to their feet and run upstairs to the closest room, which turned out to be Iris' room. They quickly shut it and sat against the door.

"He was talking about you!" Iris shushed her sister, "You're his someone!" Iris blushed, hiding her face in her palms. Someone knocked at the door and the twins looked at each other before scrambling to their feet and opening the door. Outside stood Tate with a small smile on his face.

"Hello. I'm Tate." He held out his hand.

"Violet." Her sister and Tate shook hands and Tate then turned to Iris.

"Iris." However, Tate took Iris' hand and gently kissed her knuckles, making her blush. Violet quickly excused herself and allowed Tate to enter her sister's room. Iris shut the door and led Tate to her bed, where the two of them sat. Tate picked up the sketchbook she had out, labeled 'School'. He opened it to the first page, where Iris had drawn a picture of her sister cutting herself in the bathroom.

"Is that your sister?" He asked, showing it to her. She nodded.

"Violet's gotten into the habit of cutting. Soon after our first day at the hell hole known as School, she came home and added some more because of these bitches that were messing with her." Tate pulled down his sleeve, showing Iris his scars.

"This one I did after my dad left. I was ten, I think." Iris gently ran her fingers over the scars, making Tate shiver.

"I think they're beautiful," she looked up at Tate, "Would you mind if I drew them?" He shook his head, making Iris smile. She jumped off her bed and ran over to her bookshelf, which held both empty, full, and partially full sketchbooks. She grabbed an empty one and a soft leaded pencil. She sat back in front of Tate and begin to sketch out the idea she had.

"You go to Westfield, right?" Iris nodded her head, not looking up at Tate, "The worst. I got thrown out of there."

"I hate it here. I hate everyone. All their bourgeoisiy designer shit. East Coast was ten times better. At least there was weather there." Iris complained, happy that someone else was listening to her besides Violet. She was also happy that there was someone else who understood her hatred of this place bedsides Violet…maybe, just maybe, this place would be bearable.

"I love it when the leaves change." Tate commented, making Iris look up from her drawing and smile at him. The first smile, it seemed, since her family had moved here.

"Yeah, me, too." She went back to the drawing, already getting Tate's arm.

"Why did you move here?" Tate already knew the answer, the whole damn house knew. He didn't want to scare her off just quite yet though…no, he was patient.

"My dad had an affair. My mom literally caught him in the act of screwing one of his students."  
>"That's horrible," Iris snorted, "If you love someone, you should never hurt them…never."<p>

"That's not even the worst part. My mom had this brutal miscarriage, like, six months earlier. The baby was seven months old, and we had to have this macabre funeral," She looked at Tate, "Have you ever seen a baby coffin?" She went back to the drawing, blinking away the tears. Tate grabbed Iris' wrist, which not only happened to be the one with the tattoo but the one she was using to draw. She looked at him.

"I'm sorry." She gives him a thankful nod and resumes her sketching. Tate's arm was complete, now she just had to get the body. In her mind, she saw his scarred arm covering his eyes, the words psychopath etched into his arm.

"Why are you seeing my dad?" Iris asked, unable to resist the question.

"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to. You're smarter than that." She placed her drawing, she had the basic outline it could get finished later, aside and walked over to her CD collection. Tate got up and followed her, standing behind her.

"Want to listen to Morrissey? He's not bad but my sister really likes him."

"You sure you don't have any Kurt Cobain?" Iris chuckled and shook her head.

"I'll make sure to get some for you," she replied as she stood up and looked at him, "Never really tried Cobain but I'm always open for new suggestions."

"What are you doing in here?" The two jumped and turned to see Ben standing there, an angry look upon his face.

"Just talking dad, we were getting ready to choose a CD to listen to."

"You need to leave, Tate. I'm sorry. He shouldn't be in here, and I think you know that…please." Ben asked his daughter. She scoffed, there's no way in hell she was going to finally start listening to her dad. He stopped being her dad a long time ago.

"What's that thing you think I'm afraid of? Fear of rejection?" Tate clarified with her father and then stormed out of the room. Iris started to go after Tate but Ben pushed his daughter back into her room.

"Stay away from him."  
>"Dad, nothing…"<p>

"You heard me!" Ben snapped and left, making Iris slam the door in anger. Faintly, she can hear Tate storming down the stairs, yelling 'bullet' over and over again.

**-AHS-**

Iris wears the same outfit she had been wearing when she and Tate were talking to school the next day. There's some faint smell that she wanted to preserve, kind of smelled like gunpowder, cigarette smoke, and paint. As she walks out of her intermediate art class, she sees a bunch of people run down the halls saying something about 'two girls fighting'.

Iris knew that could only mean one thing, so she took off running, pushing her way past people to find a crowd gathered. She quickly pushed her way through, and surprise surprise, its Violet and Leah.

"I'm not scared of you!" Violet insisted.

"Should be!" Leah spat back.

"Fight, fight, fight!" the kids began to chant, much to Iris' horror, mostly because she was afraid of what her sister would do. And of course, her gut feeling was right because Violet picked up the still lit cigarette and smashes it into Leah's hand, causing her to scream.

"Oh, she friggin' burned me!" And with that, Iris grabs her sister's hand and pulls her away, running off towards their car.

"I (pant) don't know (pant) how we're…"Iris began before the two of them shared a look, bursting into laughter.

Who gave a shit?

Their parents certainly didn't

**-AHS-**

Iris unlocks the back door for her sister, holding it open to allow her to enter the house first. She follows, seeing her mother sit Violet down and examine her battle wounds.

"What happened to your face?" Vivien asked her daughter as Iris got an ice pack out of the freezer and handed it to her sister.

"Fell down." Violet lied, making Iris roll her eyes.

"Come here Iris and sit," Iris did so and held her sister's free hand, "Boy or girl?"

"Girl. Three of them." Iris answered.

"Hope they look worse than you do Vi. Either of you know their names?" Vivien asked her daughters.

"We're not narking." Violet told her mother, who let out a sigh.

"You know, we can easily move you to a different school. There are a lot of really good private schools right in this neighborhood."  
>"We're not running away. We're not scared of them." Iris insisted.<p>

"We're not afraid of anything." Big fat lie but no one bothered to correct that. Their mother chuckled.

"It's like that time in kindergarten, when you two insisted that I bring you home from the slumber party 'cause all the other girls were sleeping with the nightlight on," she looked at her daughters, "I know you both have gotten the short end of the stick, lately. This move, and…your dad and I haven't exactly been great to be around."

"Why don't you guys get divorce, if you're so miserable?" Violet asked her mom as she shifted the ice pack on her face.

"We still love each other."  
>"You could've fooled us. We thought you hated each other. Well, at least you hated him." Violet said.<p>

"We don't blame you. He was a shithead," Both of them looked at Iris, "Sorry." She wasn't.

"It's okay," Vivien assured her daughters, "He was a shithead. You know, we got a lot of history. You dad's been through a lot, I've been through a lot. Guess we need each other. What are you two scared of?" Neither one of them was actually going to admit their fears aloud, so they decided to keep with the lie of not being scared of anything.

"You said we're not scared of anything, so…what scares you?" Iris asked her mother.

"Lately? Everything. Life will do that to you."

**-AHS-**

"I hate her! I just want to kill her!" Iris ranted to Tate as she paced her room.

"Then do it! One less high school bitch making the lives of the less fortunate more tolerable is, in my opinion, a public service," Iris stopped pacing and looked at Tate, "Look, you want her to leave you and Violet alone? Stop making your lives a living hell? Short of killing her, there's only one solution. Scare her. Make her afraid of you. It's the only thing bullies react to."

"How?" Iris asked, walking over and sitting next to Tate on her bed.

"It's simple. You simply walk up to her and say, 'Here's the deal: I need you to stop harassing me and my sister. I got what you want. Drugs. Come to my house tomorrow for your free sample. I'm a dealer, and a good one. I've got the best shit in town.'"

"Well, yeah, it's obvious she's a cokehead. But, here's the problem, I don't have any coke."  
>"You won't need any," Tate assured her, "It's just an excuse to get her here. After that, she'll leave empty-handed and terrified. And I promise you, you and your sister will never be bothered by her again." Iris was quite for a few moments, contemplating this plan.<p>

"How am I going to terrify her?" she finally asked, making Tate grin.

"Helter-skelter! That's where I come in."

**-AHS-**

So Iris waited till school would be done, when everyone would be out of the house. She smiled to herself as she lead Leah to the basement.

"What's down there?"

"My stash. Parents toss me and my sister's room every week." She lied.

"If you're screwing with me…"  
>"It's just the basement. I found the best hiding place. This is great shit, too. All the coke coming to the U.S. form Central America smuggled in on lobster boats in Gloucester. My sister used to show her boobs to the lobstermen in return for a key or two before they cut it." Honestly, Iris was making this up as she went along. The two of them reached the bottom of the stairs, Leah waiting for Iris to show her her stash.<p>

"So where is it?" Leah insisted.

"Right around the corner. To the right." Iris instructed, pointing Leah in the right direction. Leah went first, making Iris smile as she slowly followed her.

"This place is a dump." Jesus, what a whiny bitch.

"Oh, shut up."

"I want my goddamn drugs."

"Then keep going." Iris insisted and switched the light on, where Tate was sitting in the middle of the room in a rocking chair.

"So this is the coke whore."

"Who the hell are you?" Leah asked.

"Get the lights." Tate instructed Iris, who shut them off. She heard Tate laugh this…villainous, no, psychotic laugh as the lights began to flicker.

"What is going on!? What is going on?!" Leah screeched, though Iris wasn't finding herself pleased with how this was going. Sure, she wanted to scare the bitch but with what Iris saw…that creature was enough to give anyone nightmares.

"Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!" Tate throws himself on Leah, making Iris gasp and slowly walk backwards at the sight of it all.

"Get off of me! Get off of me!" Leah screamed, thrashing about. Suddenly Tate disappeared and that…thing took his place, making Iris scream in horror. Iris bumped into something and she jumped, jerking her head around to see Tate with a malicious grin upon his face.

"Get off me! Get off me!"

"Please, stop! Stop! Stop!" She begged Tate, who only grinned. Iris turned back around, seeing the creature's hand slowly approach Leah's face.

"Mommy…?" It starts to slash Leah's face, which is when Iris can't take it anymore. She flicked the light back on. Leah is laying on the floor, whimpering to herself and the creature is nowhere to be seen. Tate is back in the chair, a different, more sinister, grin upon his face. Once the Leah seemed to collect herself, she immediately ran out of the room and upstairs.

"Will you wait?!" She screamed at the girl, who did nothing of the sort.

"I don't think she'll be bothering you anymore." Tate commented as he got out of his chair.

"What was that?!" Iris snapped, looking to Tate with hatred upon her face.

"What are you talking about? She hit me in the balls and got away. She must have run into a wall or something."

"No, I saw something!" Iris insisted.

"What are you talk…? Iris, you're talking crazy. This is cool. We showed that bitch." Iris shook her head.

"Get out! I never want to see you again!" She pushes Tate away and runs up the stairs.

"I thought you weren't afraid of anything!" Tate yelled after her.

"No, that's just the lie I tell everyone." Iris thought once she was safe and sound in her room. She pulled her knees to her chest, resting her chin upon them and thinking about what she had seen.

_In the shadows of Iris' room, Tate watched her. This was only a bump in their relationship. He slowly walked over to her bed and gently kissed her forehead, smirking as she suddenly jumped. _

_ Yes, he could be patient. _


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Home Invasion

"I'm an 'intelligent' sociopath. I don't have problems with drugs, I don't commit crimes, I don't take pleasure in hurting people, and I don't typically have relationship problems. I do have a complete lack of empathy. But I consider that an advantage, most of the time. Do I know the difference between right and wrong, and do I want to be good? Sure. ... A peaceful and orderly world is a more comfortable world for me to live in. So do I avoid breaking the law because it's 'right'? No, I avoid breaking the law because it makes sense."  
>― M.E. Thomas, <em>Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight<em>

Iris sat on the stairs, listening in on the appointment between Tate and her father. Not that there was much to listen to, neither one of them was saying anything. Iris quietly jumped at the sound of her father's phone ringing, afraid she made some noise, she grabbed the banister in case she needed to make a quick escape upstairs.

"Sorry." Ben apologized to Tate and Iris let out a sigh of relief and let go of the banister.

"So, what do shrinks think about when a wildly brilliant patient doesn't talk to punish said psychiatrist? I bet you think about sex." Iris blushed, thankful that her sister wasn't around, that would certainly cause some teasing.

"Do you think about sex a lot?" her father asked Tate in his 'doctor' voice.

"I think about one girl in particular," Iris was _very _thankful her sister wasn't around because she somehow knew where this was going, "You daughter, Iris. I jerk off thinking about her. A lot." Iris covered her beet-red face with her hands.

"I'm not comfortable with you talking about my daughter, Tate." For the first time in a long time, Iris thanked her father. She wanted to get away from this conversation but for some reason, she couldn't find enough will to leave. Something seemed to be keeping her here, making her listen.

"Don't you want to know what I do to her?" Violet quietly came down the stairs and pointed to their father's office door with a questioning look, Iris hushed her and gestured for her to sit down, "How I lay her on the bed and caress her soft skin, make her purr like a little kitten," Violet's eyes went wide as she looked at her sister, "She's a virgin. They get wet so easily."

"Do you turn to these thoughts to comfort yourself in times of stress?"

"Actually, yes. I jerk off a lot to make the visions go away. Blood and the carnage. I want the thoughts to go away and you're not helping me." Iris could hear the slight tone of pleading in his voice, even though it was very faint, simply covered by a tone of sarcasm. He was pulling what any typical teenager would do, pretend to not care when in actuality they did.

"Well, we've only been working together a few weeks now." Ben calmly remarked, making the sisters look at each other. Was their father seeing Tate when they weren't around?

"Well, you're sexual, right?" the sudden question change didn't honestly surprise Iris but it seemed to surprise Violet, who obviously hadn't heard the first part of the session, "Iris told me about the affair with the girl in Boston. Not much older than her, she said." The girls knew that would cause their father to get upset, so they slowly got up and went back up to Iris' room, pretending like they've been there the whole time.

**-AHS-**

Iris wasn't sure why she was here, with the girl who caused her and her sister nothing but trouble ever since they day they had meet. Violet still didn't know about the whole 'fake drug' fiasco. To be quite honest, it was kind of awkward.

"I thought you hated smoking." Iris finally said, hoping that would silence some of the awkwardness.

"I've taken it up," she offered it to Iris, who shook her head, "I can't sleep. I'm terrified of everything," she looked at Iris, "What attacked me wasn't human."  
>"It was Tate." Iris insisted for some bizarre reason, she knew she saw that creature.<p>

"No, you saw that other thing, too." Leah insisted.

"He was trying to freak us both out," Iris wasn't sure why she continued to defend Tate, so she decided to try and change the topic, "What'd you tell your parents?" Leah gave a light scoff.

"Don't worry. I told them I got attacked by some chola on Melrose who wanted my Chanel," She looked at Iris, her big sunglasses and hat covering almost her entire face, "Couldn't tell them I went to your hose to score coke, could I? I had to file a fake police report and everything."

"How deep are the cuts?" Iris asked, looking at the bandage on Leah's face, remembering the creature clawing at her face and giving a little flinch at the memory.

"Deep," she takes another drag, "God, and I-I can't stop thinking about that mouth."

"It was a mask. He was purposely trying to terrorize you," Iris insisted and looked again at Leah, now frowning at the hat, "That hat doesn't really suit you." Course she was wearing one, but at least it wasn't as big and tacky as Leah's.

"It serves a purpose. Look," she took it off and showed Iris a part of it that was starting to turn white, "My hair is turning white from fear," She must've seen Iris' doubting look because she then added, "Yeah, I read on the Internet that's possible," She puts the hat back on and looks at Iris, "Do you believe in the devil?"

"No." Iris lied, she didn't believe in God but she knew there was a devil.

The other night only confirmed her suspicions.

"I do," she looked at Iris, "I've looked into his eyes."

**-AHS-**

Nothing much happened over the next few days. Addy broke into their house…again. Dad left to Boston because one of his patients apparently tried to commit suicide. So, it was just the women left in the house. Iris and Violet sat in Violet's room, Violet doing homework while Iris finished her Tate sketch by adding some color.

"I turned it down," Violet snapped, making Iris sigh at her sister's attitude, "What do you want?" Their mother opened the door, her head peering into Violet's room.

"Can I come in?" Violet doesn't answer so Iris nods her head, "Hi," she says as she walked in with a plate that has two chocolate cupcakes on it, "Our kooky neighbor made you cupcakes." She held up the plate, one chocolate cupcake had a candied violet and the other had a candied iris.

"Huh. A candied violet." Violet remarked, looking at it.

"That's original." Iris muttered as she took the plate from her mom and set it on the bedside table. Their mom sat down on the bed, pulling Iris' feet up and setting them on her lap.

"Want to watch a movie? I figured since your dad's gone tonight, we could have a little girl's night." Iris would rather hang herself.

"Yeah." Violet began, glancing over at her sister.

"No thanks." She finished, glancing up at her mom and then resuming her picture.

"Thought it might be fun to hang out." Vivien tried.

"Can't. Homework." Fuck! Iris didn't have as great as an excuse, so Iris figured the best thing to do was to remain quite.

"Are you two mad at me about something?" Neither answered, so Iris turned to the cupcakes on the bedside table and picked them up. She held them out to her mother.

"Why don't you eat it since you're eating for two now?" she didn't even bother to hide the shock on her face, "What, you think we're stupid?"

"You stopped drinking wine at dinner, and you're gaining weight in your face." Violet stated.

"I was gonna tell you tonight." Vivien told her daughters as Iris put the cupcakes back on the bedside table.

"You know the statistics, when you have a baby over forty." Iris reminded her mother.

"Yeah, I do," she looked at both of her daughters, "You want to talk about it?"  
>"No, thanks. We're good." Vivien looked over at Iris, who wasn't even looking up at her mother, only drawing. Vivien sighed and walked to the door, "Having a baby isn't going to keep you and Dad together, if that's what you're thinking."<p>

"Violet." Iris hissed and smacked her sister in the arm.

"Wow, Violet," Vivien turned back around, "I am really appreciating your optimism on this. Really am. Come on, go ahead and say all your mean things." She held her arms out.

"I think you're weak." Iris sighed, she knew that comment was going to come out if her mother offered the chance.

"Okay." Vivien simply said and left. Iris set her drawing aside and picked the cupcakes up and set them outside.

"Aren't you going to say something?" Violet asked her sister, who simply resumed her drawing.

"Nope." And that was it. It was silent between the sisters, only the music playing in the background as they worked on their separate things.

"Violet! Iris! Girls! Answer me!" They threw their things aside, going down the stairs side by side as they saw their mother at the bottom, a frantic look on her face.

"How are we supposed to finish our work if you keep interrupting us?" Violet irritably asked and then looked at her mother.

"What's the matter?" Iris asked.

"Where's your phone?"

"Upstairs." The girls simultaneously answered.

"Go, go, go, go, go get it," the two turn to go back up the stairs, "Dial 911."  
>"Who's that?" Iris asked, pointing to the door.<p>

"Just go into one of your rooms, lock the door, don't come out until I tell you…"Neither move, they didn't want their mother to deal with whatever was at the door alone, "Now!" The twins looked at each other before going up the stairs and going into Iris' room, since it was the closest. Violet shuts the door as Iris grabs her bag and dump the contents.

"Vi, I can't find it," there was a thump and Iris quickly turned around, her sister was unconscious on the floor and a man in a mask was slowly edging toward her. "NO!" She grabbed the closest thing, which was her algebra text book, and used that as a shield.

"I'm going to hate math even more if it fails me now." Iris thought as she crawled across her bed and stood on the other side, the man stood at the other side, staring at her. She quickly glanced at her sister, who was unresponsive.

"Don't worry Vi," She glanced at the masked man and then at her bed, finally seeing her phone under her bag of colored pencils, "I'm not leaving you behind." She threw the text book at the man, grabbed her phone and ran for the door. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough because the man knocked her in the back of the head before she even had a chance to make it to the stairs.

**-AHS-**

Iris' head was pounding, her wrists were burning, and she was getting kind of hungry. Of course, two of the three problems were because of the psychopaths that had her, her mom, and sister tied up.

"I have money. Please take anything." Vivien begged.

"We're not here to rob you," a female voice answered and then turned to her companions, "Masks off," they do so and Iris wasn't surprised about one of them being her dad's client, "The nurses saw R. Franklin; he had nothing to hide," she checked her watch, "Twelve minutes."

"Then the fun begins." Bianca, her father's patient, said looking to the three Harmon women.

"I have a surprise for you guys," Fiona, the 'leader' of the trio, said as she pulled a bowl out of her bag. Course it meant absolutely nothing to the three Harmon women, it was just an ugly bowl, but to the psychopaths? It was what they dedicated their whole life to.

"No way." Dallas breathed as he and Bianca stood on both sides of Fiona.

"I got it on eBay. Authenticated," she looked between her friends, "It's the one he sued to bash Maria." Iris didn't like the sound of that.

"Let me see it," Fiona hands it to Dallas, "Holy shit. Can feel the energy in this. This is bitchin'." Bianca looked to Fiona.

"Who goes first?" Bianca asked, looking at the three of them, "Which one is Gladys?" Fiona looked at the three of them, of course they would have to improvise. R. Franklin only killed two girls in this house but…the more the merrier for them. Fiona finally decided on Iris, pointing at her with her knife. Bianca threw a nurse's outfit at Iris and Fiona came over and freed Iris wrists.

"Screw you, psycho! I'm not putting this on!" She threw it back at them and stood up.

"You have to. Everything has to be perfect." Bianca insisted.

"Take your clothes off!" Dallas snaps as he takes a step towards Iris and tries to rip her t-shirt off.

"NO! Mom! Vi!" she screamed as Dallas ripped her shirt.

"Stop it!" Violet yelled at them, begging them to leave her sister alone.

"Put it on me!" Vivien pleaded, looking towards Fiona and Bianca.

"Oh, all three of you will be wearing uniforms. He had a bad experience with the mercury in a broken thermometer. That's why he took Gladys upstairs and drowned her in the tub," she explained and looked to Iris, "And you, Maria-he saved you for last," She looked to Vivien, "And you?" She finally looked at Violet, "Well, you're just going to make this much more fun."

"R. Franklin was the first. Before Manson. He changed culture. We're paying tribute to him." Bianca explained.

"We're not going to be part of your sick reenactment." Violet spat.

"Put this on," Fiona said and threw the nurses outfit back in Iris' lap, "You won't like it if I have to make you," Iris took it and cast a glance at Violet, giving her a slight nod, Iris looked back at Fiona before she threw the nurses outfit in her face and gave her a head-but. Iris quickly ran out of the room and towards the front door before someone pulled her into a small separate room.

It was Tate.

"Tate, they're trying to kill us!" Iris whimpered, all logic of why he would be here thrown out the window. She didn't care, him being here was better than no one being here.

"You have to get them to the basement." Tate explained, his hands sill gripping her arms.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Iris demanded, what did the basement have to do with anything!?

"The basement! Just do it!" He snaps and then takes a step back, disappearing just as Bianca comes in and pulls Iris out.

**-AHS-**

Upstairs in the bathroom, Fiona turned on the tub while Iris slowly (hoping to buy time) got dressed in the weird nurses' outfit.

"What's taking you so long?" Fiona snapped.

"So, are these vintage?" Iris casually asked.

"Nurses' catalogue," Fiona answered as Bianca came in, eating Iris' cupcake from Constance, "Really? You're eating?"  
>"It was, like, sitting there, saying 'eat me'." Bianca explained as Fiona rolled her eyes and looked again at Iris, who was still taking her time to get dressed.<p>

"Step on it! Time's a-wastin', sister."

"Tell me what's going on downstairs." Iris demanded, pausing her dress-up. Neither one of them answered, which made her even more nervous about what Tate wanted her to do in going downstairs to the basement.

"You got all the cell phones?" Fiona asked Bianca, whose face was all scrunched up, like she was in pain.

"Yeah, I…I told you. The one in the kitchen and…" her stomach gives a nasty growl and she immediately wraps her arms around it, "ooh, stomachache." Iris was getting pissed off that neither one of them would answer her.

"Answer me! What's he doing to my mother and my sister?!" But still, no damn answer from either one of them.

"Jesus, I'm gonna shit myself." Bianca grumbled.

"Not in the staging area!" Fiona snapped, holding a hand out.

"Just don't start without me." Bianca said as she stumbled out of the bathroom. Iris glanced at the door and Fiona and quickly went to grab one of her dad's razors but Fiona turned back around too soon.

"Are you kidding me?" she checked her watch, "It's 10:57, get in the tub," she walks to the door, "Bianca, it's almost time!" she yelled in the hall and came back to Iris, "You have to put someone under water for three minutes until they lost consciousness. The brain begins to die from oxygen deprivation," Iris chuckles, "This is funny to you?"  
>"What's funny is that you think you know everything about this damn house, which clearly shows that you know nothing," Iris remarked, taking a page out of her sister's book, and crossing her arms, "This isn't even the right tub." That part was true, the tub before this was one…was disgusting. It was covered in rust and mildew, it was the nastiest thing ever. Iris thought gay's couldn't stand shit like that.<p>

"Second floor bathroom. I used to study the crime scene photos." Fiona stated.

"The one he used is in the basement. We totally remolded this bathroom." Iris remarked with a roll of her eyes, thankful to see the confusion in Fiona's eyes. She was questioning herself.

"You think I'm gonna fall for that?"

"Sweetie, you already have." Iris thought but aloud she said, "It's a grimy claw-foot tub with a chrome faucet," she gestured out in the hall, "go look."  
><strong>-AHS-<strong>

As Fiona and Iris walks down, Iris keeps her cool (even though Fiona has her knife pressed into her back as a warning).

"You better not be messing with me." Fiona warned. Iris saw Tate standing to the side and gave him a small nod, she hoped he had something better than the shit he pulled on Leah. This bitch deserved worse than that.

"It's down here, around the corner." Iris said and turned just as the lights went out. A hand grabbed her and immediately led her to the stairs, making her scramble up them (Even though she was in this hideous nurse's outfit).

"Mom!? Violet!?" Iris cried when she finally reached upstairs. The two of them ran out of the living room, hugging her and then pulling her outside and running down the street.

"Help! Somebody help us! Call the police! Help!"

**-AHS- **

Violet and Iris sat in the kitchen, listening to their parents talk to the police about 'the night'. It was a night that none of the girls wanted to talk about but Ben did. He wanted 'to help them'. They weren't crazy, it was just a traumatizing experience. Finally, when the police came into the kitchen, Iris and Violet took that as their cue to go talk to their parents.

"You mom said that you told her Tate helped you escape?" Ben asked Iris as she walked in.

"Yeah. Thanks for not dragging him into all that." Iris said with a nod.

"What was he doing in the house?" Ben asked.

"How should I know?" Iris snapped. Why was this such a big deal? He helped her so she wouldn't get killed. Shouldn't her 'father' be happy about that?

"Iris…"Ben warned.

"You think she let him in?" Violet demanded, immediately coming to her sister's defense.

"I don't know why Tate was here, but I'm glad he was. You weren't," Iris remarked, leaving with her sister before turning back to her mom, "You were really brave, Mom." They leave and go upstairs into their separate bedrooms.

As Iris closes her door, she leans her forehead against it and lets out a sigh.

"Thank you Tate."

Iris swore she heard Tate reply back.


End file.
